Notes From Kentucky's 76-66 Win Over Florida

Final Score: #11/10 Kentucky 76, #13/12 Florida 66

Team Records and Series Notes:

• Kentucky has won six in a row and is 24-5 overall. UK is 14-2 in the Southeastern Conference and takes a one-game lead in the standings with two games to play. 
• Florida ended a nine-game winning streak and is 23-6 overall, 13-3 in league play.
• Kentucky leads the series 100-38, including 51-9 in Lexington.  
• Next for the Wildcats: UK plays host to Vanderbilt on Tuesday at 9 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN. It will be Senior Night as UK honors Dominique Hawkins, Mychal Mulder and Derek Willis. 

In the First Half:

• With De’Aaron Fox out with injury (left knee contusion), senior Mychal Mulder got his first collegiate start, joining Isaiah Briscoe, Malik Monk, Wenyen Gabriel and Bam Adebayo in the starting lineup.
• Florida zipped to an 8-0 lead, prompting a UK timeout at 18:09. 
• UK eventually got on the board with a pair of Adebayo foul shots with 16:23 on the clock but Florida stretched its lead to 12 points at 18-6.  
• From that mark, UF would score only 10 points the last 13 minutes of the half.
• UK responded with a 17-3 spurt, giving the Wildcats their only lead of the half at 23-21. At that point, however, UK did not make a field goal the last seven minutes of the half.
• Early in the 17-3 run, Derek Willis extended UK’s streak of 1,004 consecutive games with a 3-point shot.
• Florida came back with a 7-0 run to make it 28-23 Gators. The Wildcats hit five foul shots to send the game into intermission tied at 28 despite shooting just 28.6 percent in the first half.

In the Second Half:

• Florida came out hot, scoring 17 points in the first 4:17 of the half to make it 45-37.
• Monk carried the Cats by scoring 19 of UK’s first 23 points in the opening 8:30 of the half.
• UK returned to the lead, 53-52, on an Adebayo bucket with 10:45 to go.  
• Tied at 55, Adebayo got a pair of foul shots and a dunk, sparking a 15-5 run that gave the Wildcats the lead for good.
• Monk scored 30 of his game-high 33 points in the second half, going 8 of 13 from the floor with four 3-pointers.

Team Notes:

• Kentucky held Florida to 66 points.
• UK is 15-0 this season when limiting the opponent to 72 or fewer points.
• Florida shot 36.6 percent from the field. UK is 14-0 this season when limiting the opponent to less than 43 percent.
• Kentucky shot 45.3 percent from the field. UK is 23-1 this season when shooting at least 42 percent.
• Kentucky won the rebounding for the sixth straight game – coinciding with the six-game win streak – 48-30.  
• UK has outrebounded opponents by 11.8 boards per game during the current six-game win streak.
• After being outrebounded by 25 in the loss at Florida, Kentucky was plus-18 Saturday, producing a 43-rebound swing over the two games.
• UK is 20-2 this season when outrebounding the opponent. 
• UK is now 209-4 (.981) under Calipari in games leading by at least 10 points. 
• Calipari has a 686-192 (.781) on-court record, including a 241-52 (.826) mark at UK.
• Kentucky has an all-time mark of 560-66 (.895) in Rupp Arena.  
• UK is 133-6 (.957) at Rupp Arena under John Calipari.

Player Notes:  

• Freshman Malik Monk tallied 33 points, including 30 of UK’s 48 points in the second half. 
• 30 points is the most in one half by a UK player under Coach Calipari. The previous best was 27 by Monk vs. in the first half North Carolina on Dec. 17 and by Jamal Murray in the second half vs. Ohio State on Dec. 19, 2015.
• Monk is the first freshman in UK history to have 30 points in four games in one season.
• This was Monk’s 16th 20-point game of the season.
• He continued his streak of double-figure scoring in every game this season. 
• He also led the Wildcats in assists with five.
• Freshman Bam Adebayo had 18 points and 15 rebounds, his second consecutive double-double and fourth of the season.
• He is the first Wildcat with consecutive double-doubles since Tyler Ulis last March.
• The 15 rebounds ties his career high set last Tuesday at Missouri.
• He is averaging 12.5 rebounds over the last four games.
• Sophomore Isaiah Briscoe had nine points and eight rebounds. Briscoe has pounded the backboards lately, averaging 7.6 caroms over the last 10 games.
• Senior Derek Willis had five points and nine rebounds, all on the defensive end.
• Freshman De’Aaron Fox missed the game because of a left knee contusion. After the game, Coach Calipari said that Fox would have been about “70 percent” had he played.
• Senior Mychal Mulder made his first collegiate start in place of the injured Fox.  He played 22 minutes, tying his career high, and contributed four points and an assist.
• Senior Dominique Hawkins played a career-high 37 minutes. He scored three points, gathered a career-high six rebounds and added four assists.
• Sophomore Isaac Humphries made his only shot of the game. UK is now 22-0 this season when Humphries scores.